2023 was a year of partnerships, prioritizing, and paving the way for a reimagined University of Houston Libraries.

The professional and scholarly engagement of our librarians, staff, and student employees contributed to the University’s goal of becoming a top 50 public university. As plans for a robust near future are activated, UH Libraries remains collectively committed to our mission of enhancing student learning, participating in the development of scholarly research and creative output, and promoting discovery of information and knowledge from diverse and relevant resources.

Here are a few of our 2023 highlights:

• In collaboration with the UH department of African American Studies, hosted an exhibit, Forged by Protest: Student Organization Afro Americans for Black Liberation (AABL) and the Genesis of the UH African American Studies Program, which was curated by Research for Aspiring Coogs in the Humanities (REACH) scholar Saron Regassa
• Curated and made accessible new digital collections, including the National Endowment for the Humanities-funded Gulf Coast LGBT Radio and Television Digitization Project, Diana Foundation Oral Histories, Pecan-Shellers’ Strike Documents, and Digitized Theses and Dissertations Project
• In collaboration with faculty member Elizabeth Coen, PhD, planned a reimagined co-curricular experience for 29 theatre students that involved an assessment of playbills and marketing materials from theatre productions of the mid-to-late 20th century
• Received an anonymous gift of $135,000 to support the expansion of co-curricular student success
• In partnership with the Office of Undergraduate Research and Major Awards, hosted Undergraduate Research Day, an annual celebration of undergraduate research and scholarship
• Hosted the 23^rd annual Library Excellence Awards, supported through the generosity of the John P. McGovern Foundation, to celebrate librarians and staff who bring a high level of leadership, collegiality, and care to their roles
• In partnership with UH Hewlett Packard Enterprise Data Science Institute, led the first UH faculty cohort through Badge 1: Foundations of Digital Humanities (DH) Project Development, a component of the inaugural Micro-credential in the DH program
• In collaboration with UH Center for Public History, hosted Agents of Change: Celebrating Innovation at the UH Centennial exhibit opening | photos
• Collaborated with artist and UH graduate student Erica Reed Lee who curated Zine Territory, a pop-up exhibit featuring zines from the Zine Fest Houston Records collection preserved at UH Libraries Special Collections that was on display at Blaffer Art Museum in conjunction with UH Zine Week
• Hosted the National Library of Medicine (NLM) traveling exhibition Confronting Violence: Improving Women’s Lives/Enfrentando La Violencia: mejorando la vida de las mujeres
• For the seventh year, hosted the Banner Project, a pop-up exhibit featuring pivotal moments in Houston’s LGBT history from the 1930s to present day and created by Houston activists Sara Fernandez, JD Doyle, and Kirk Baxter
• Awarded UH instructors who applied to adopt, adapt, or create open educational resources (OER) in the fifth round of the UH Alternative Textbook Incentive Program (ATIP)
• Began the MD Anderson Library collections and space project, signaling the first phase of preparation toward building the Digital Humanities Core facility on floor 7 in partnership with the Division of Research
• In partnership with Houston philanthropist Irma Brindis, hosted Un Brindis por University of Houston, a festive event benefiting the mission of UH Libraries and Public Art of the University of Houston System